I am going to have to replace my bullet puller and know that there may have been changes/upgrades to bullet pullers over the past few years.

Question:
Which bullet puller is best and doesn't gouge and scratch the bullet, as well as being easy to use? I would like real time experience not just brand fan. I am interested in the big bore bullets.

Choices:
RCBS
Forster
Hornady
Other

 

Get a collet puller ... much better than any inertial puller, especially for big bores!

RCBS unit works well through .470 NE

I have the RCBS and the inertial hammer and like them both. Can't say one is better then the other. For cast, the inertial is easier because a collet will slip on lead and the boolit is destroyed.

Dittos on the collet pullers, they are faster and most importantly safer.

I have an RCBS, not sure it's the best one, but it works well enough.

I try to use it as little as possible

I really like the RCBS, I've found that I can pull .411" bullets with the .45 cal collet, and .277" bullets with the .284" collet, less collets to buy.

Gidday Guys,

Wrongtarget has brought up an interesting question about which collets work with other calibres.

I have just busted my inertia puller and would like to replace it with a collet. To save having to buy so many collets is it possible to use a 6mm collet to pull 6.5 bullets or vice versa.

I load .222 rem, 223 rem, 243win, 260rem and 30-06 so will also need 22 collet and .30 collet so being able to save on one set would help.

I'm not going back to an inertia puller as the impact buggers up the primers half the time and I'm sick of misfires.

Any help would be appreciated.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

The Davidson plier style that Sinclair sells are faster then any of them and do not mark the bullet at all.

Hamish,

I just tried a couple other calibers, the .284" collet will also pull .243" bullets, and the .338" will pull .308" bullets. It appears the collets will pull smaller bullets but not larger than their designated size. The .338" wouldn't work on .358" bullets and the 284" wouldn't work on .308"s.

Tim

Gidday Tim

Thanks for sharing your experience with me.

I might get cunning and buy a 6.5 collett and it will probably do the 243 and possibly the 222. It would probably be too much of an ask to get the 308 collett to go down to 223.

Looks like I may have saved some money..

Happy Hunting

Hamish

I tried the 7mm collet on .224 bullets, it will almost work, but it's not quite tight enough, it's at the extreme limit of its working range, but the 6.5mm should work fine.

Tim

I just bought a Hornady collet puller after many years of using an enertia type. I had a RCBS when I had a rockchucker, but when switching to a co-ax, it wouldn't work with it.

The Hornady will work there because it is cam operated, it doesn't need to be tightened against the top of the press. hornady cam-loc

collet

I haven't tried to make it fit a larger or smaller bullet than what it's sized for. At 7 bucks I just got all the sizes I needed. It's much faster than the RCBS, flip the lever over it grips, flip it back the bullet drops out into your hand!

I had my first experience with an inertia bullet puller by RCBS. I loaded it with a 270 Win. loaded with 130 gr. Swift Sirrocco. It took ten hard hits to finally eject the bullet. On the very next round, after 5-6 hits, the threaded cap cracked ejecting the case and contents behind me and all over the carpet. Is normal behavior of the inertia puller? What if anything did I do wrong? I borrowed this from a friend. I guess I am buying two bullet pullers now

Russ Haydon sells a puller that is like a smooth jaw pair of pliers that is used in conjuction with your press. Works like a champ and doesn't deform the bullet.

Russ Haysons Shooters' Supply
Gig Harbor, Wa.
253-857-7557

Russ Haydon has a web site!

http://www.shooters-supply.com/

quote:

Originally posted by lb404:
What if anything did I do wrong? I borrowed this from a friend. I guess I am buying two bullet pullers now

The instructions that came with my RCBS inertia puller say to tighten the cap after each whack, and it's necessary, it will loosen if you don't. Could have been defective too.

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
Russ Haydon sells a puller that is like a smooth jaw pair of pliers that is used in conjuction with your press. Works like a champ and doesn't deform the bullet.

Russ Haysons Shooters' Supply
Gig Harbor, Wa.
253-857-7557

I looked at the web site ad only saw a bullet puller for 22/6mm/30cal is this the one?

That's the one! It could be easily made to work with larger bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by lb404:
I had my first experience with an inertia bullet puller by RCBS. I loaded it with a 270 Win. loaded with 130 gr. Swift Sirrocco. It took ten hard hits to finally eject the bullet. On the very next round, after 5-6 hits, the threaded cap cracked ejecting the case and contents behind me and all over the carpet. Is normal behavior of the inertia puller? What if anything did I do wrong? I borrowed this from a friend. I guess I am buying two bullet pullers now

Geez Leonard you could break a rock! You are as hard on my bullet pullers as I am on your Chris Reeves knives. That puller is only a couple months old, we'll take it back to Sportsmans warehouse and exchange it..............DJ

OK. I used the RCBS on two or three. I like it.

Bad news about using the RCBS collets for smaller bullets than their intended use, they don't expand back to the original caliber, the .7mm collet that I used for 6mm bullets won't accept a 7mm bullet without manually expanding the collet by driving a tapered punch thru it to slightly larger than 7mm so a bullet will slip into it in the press, so much for that Idea.

Try to avoid use of bullet pullers by getting it right the first time.

Inertia pullers work well on long heavy large diameter bullets.
Collet pullers may deform you bullets even if you can't see it but pull small diameter bullets well if the shank is long enough to grip.

Pulling bulets with the wrong size collet is a bad idea. You will eventually ruin the collet.

The best bullet puller is a rifle barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by wrongtarget:
Bad news about using the RCBS collets for smaller bullets than their intended use, they don't expand back to the original caliber, the .7mm collet that I used for 6mm bullets won't accept a 7mm bullet without manually expanding the collet by driving a tapered punch thru it to slightly larger than 7mm so a bullet will slip into it in the press, so much for that Idea.

Your poll is odd... You asked for no brand fans then posted only brands.

When using the inertia type puller I use the shell holder from my die set in place of the little three piece gizmo supplied.Unscrew the cap, slide round into shellholder, place into hammer, screw on cap and bang onto piece of wood.
For lots of rounds I like the Hornady cam lever.
rob